Written by

Free Press Staff Writer

When Gov. Shumlin talks about educating Vermonters to fill higher-skilled jobs, he’s preaching to the choir at Vermont Technical College.

That’s because Vermont Tech focuses on applied education. Roughly 40 percent of the college’s students are in STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — the disciplines that Shumlin insists will have to turn out more graduates to nourish the high-tech economy of the future. The governor is expected to invoke that theme in his state-of-the-state address today.

“We take the basic knowledge that students learn in high school and transfer that to programs that serve the workforce here in Vermont,” said Vermont Tech President Philip Conroy Monday, in a visit to the Free Press editorial board.

According to Vermont Tech data, about 90 percent of its graduates are employed or enrolled in post-secondary programs within six months of leaving school, and a large majority of those employees stay in Vermont, Conroy said. He highlighted two initiatives that dovetail with primary economic needs — an Institute for Applied Agriculture, supported by a $3.4 million federal grant, which will train students in dairy farming and specialty food production; and an apprenticeship program in advanced manufacturing, which enlists STEM students to use their various skills in production technologies that include robotics. Both programs involve collaborations with various Vermont businesses.

“I think that most employers would agree that there’s a certain level of skills needed in order for that worker to be specifically trained in whatever that product is. That’s what Vermont Tech does,” Conroy said, adding: “We have programs all over the state where we collaborate with specific companies so that we can meet their specific needs.”

Vermont Tech’s fall enrollment has hovered between 1,600 and 1,700 for the last several years. An enrollment-management consultant has recommended increasing that to 2,500; Conroy said various enrollment-growth scenarios are under consideration, but cautioned that increases would have to be gradual, perhaps over a decade. Even now, though, the Randolph campus has 100 empty beds.

(Page 2 of 2)

Plans call for a marketing campaign to draw more students from out of state and overseas, including China and the Middle East. Vermont’s annual cohort of graduating high school students is in decline.

Conroy acknowledged that tuition at Vermont public institutions are among the highest in the country. “A lot of folks cannot afford to look at our tuition rates,” he said. Vermont Tech’s in-state tuition and fees this year amount to $12,024.

Vermont Tech can’t count on a big new infusion of state support to offset that sticker price. The appropriation for Vermont State Colleges — among the lowest in the country, per student — has been flat for the last few years, and trustees have asked this year for a modest increase of 3 percent. Tuition and fees are the major source of revenue for Vermont Tech and the four other schools — Castleton, Johnson and Lyndon state colleges and Community College of Vermont.

Since he assumed the presidency 18 months ago, Conroy said, he has noticed a heightened awareness of a need for “STEM-based education programs.” Advanced or specialty manufacturing, relying on highly skilled labor, is the way of the future, he believes.

“There’s finally a realization that if we’re going to improve the economy in this country, not just this state, that we are going to have to get back into building some basic businesses, and that includes manufacturing,” he said. “And it’s not going to be the same type of manufacturing that we have historically done. It’s going to be specialty manufacturing, it’s going to be advanced manufacturing. It’s going to be the areas of manufacturing that can support a highly trained and dedicated workforce, and frankly one that’s more expensive than what can be done in the rest of the world.

“I think that’s the specialty we’ll see going forward, and that’s definitely the specialty we have here in Vermont. You travel to virtually any part of the state, and you’ll find specialty manufacturers that are producing products that are important to the world marketplace, but they’re small part of it, but they tend to be high-end.”

He cited an example of airplane parts manufactured in Vermont finding their way into jet engines going into Airbus frames in France.

Conroy envisions a niche for Vermont in the high-tech manufacturing future.

“As a small state, we’re going to have very specific things that we do extraordinarily well, and better than others,” he said. Producing those products will require skilled workers of the sort that he hopes will be coming out of Vermont Tech.

“I’m optimistic about the governor’s agenda,” he said. “I’m looking forward to participating.”